Interior Health is hoping to provide better support services to people with severe mental health or substance use issues thanks to a new position based in Trail.
Starting July 24, an intensive case management nurse will begin working in the city.
Lynn Miller, director of mental health and substance use for the Kootenay Boundary, said funding to support the full-time position was secured this past spring.
“The services are tailored to the person’s needs,” she said. “Ultimately we focus on where the person is at, we provide services not necessarily in our office but in the community as needed, even if people’s homes as necessary.”
Miller said similar positions exist elsewhere in Interior Health for severely and persistently ill clients or substance users having difficulty in their lives.
“It is in response to the increased number of people requiring this level of support,” she said.
In urban centres, intensive case management teams can be larger, she added, but they aren’t sure yet what the local case load will be like.
“We’ll see once the position’s up and running. If the need is proven through the support this role provides, we may be looking for future funding opportunities or supporting other smaller communities with funding like this.”
Meanwhile, Miller said Daly Pavilion, the acute in-patient mental health unit at Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital, has been busier than normal lately, but patient numbers and admissions fluctuate like any other part of the hospital.
“It can be full at times and other times not. We go through periods where we fill up with patients and then it can taper off. We are seeing a more consistent level of the unit being fuller, but not necessarily at capacity all the time.”
The pavilion has a dozen beds, but Interior Health told Trail city council this week sometimes it can have up to 14 people.
